“About a year ago you suggested that we have a parish movie night with wine, cheese, and veggies to introduce the adults to Veggie Tales.”
“Yeah. I get ideas sometimes but I never act on them. It saves me a lot of trouble.”
“It’s going to be monthly starting October 10th and not limited to Veggie Tales. I organized it so you get to lead the discussion.”
“Ummm, won’t my, uh, partially posteriored belief system get in the way?”
“No. You’re just getting people to talk.”
“We have two pastors and a youth and family director…”
“They have enough to do; this is a parishoner-run thing.”
Why can’t I just say no? Because it might be fun, these people have no idea how excellent Veggie Tales is to all audiences, even grownup atheists, and it was my dumb idea and I need to follow through once in a while just to show it’s possible. So, in a month I get to switch on the personality that did well in Dale Carnegie training, shove the fraidycat personality aside, and come up with some discussion points. I might even do it BEFORE the party.
Sounds like a great idea! We recently went on a cruise where the always-on movie was Jonah. It was good! :eek:
The best part was when the asparagus angels are singing (yeah, I said Asparagus Angels… deal with it.) and they start flipping through the air - It’s a direct re-shoot of the church scene in The Blues Brothers !!
They’ve taken a movie where the lead characters are “on a mission from God” and given it a visual shout-out in a movie where the lead asparagus is on a mission from God.
Have enough wine and the fraidycat personality will go away on its own.
Of course, so will the intelligent conversation personality, but if everyone has enough wine . . .
Probably not. Are you speaking before or after showing the video? It might be a good idea to ask a couple of "what have you heard about this video, what do you think you’ll see/get out of this video, what your favorite vegetable and why, etc. " questions before the video, and then follow up with the “how was this different than you expected” type questions at the end.
Oops, the ex-teacher in me just surfaced again. I better leave off before I begin assigning homework!
As my wife (the Intervener) will be there I’ll have to stay dry.
“You’re not embarassing me in front of my friends!”
(shrug) She has a point, as some Chidopers could see.
But that doesn’t mean I can’t be an ENABLER!
Step 1. Get everybody buzzed. (Not TOO buzzed–I swear, nobody in this church knows how to get drunk.)
Step 2. Ask one leading question.
Step 3. Lean back and let them take it from there.
DeVena, I’m trying to convince somebody in the congregation to donate Jonah to the library. I can’t buy it because I have no budget. (When I took over I asked the pastor what my budget was. “You owe us $14.73.” They haven’t gotten it since it was the previous administration that ran up the debt. I’ll refer them to the videotape on forgiving third world debt her husband donated.)
My daughter is recommending one that is Gilbert & Sullivanish that isn’t the latest Christmas special. There’s a scene with the French Peas she thinks is priceless.